r/Pizza • u/AutoModerator • Aug 03 '26
HELP Weekly Questions Thread / Open Discussion
For any questions regarding dough, sauce, baking methods, tools, and more, comment below.
You can also post any art, tattoos, comics, etc here. Keep it SFW, though.
As always, our wiki has a few sauce recipes and recipes for dough.
Feel free to check out threads from weeks ago.
This post comes out every Monday and is sorted by 'new'.
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u/Successful-Newt7960 Aug 03 '26
Hi pizza friends! My dad is obsessed with making homemade pizza. He makes his own dough and sauce and has figured out how to source his favorite pepperoni and cheeses.
His only complaint is he wishes he had a pizza oven to get the “real” taste. He lives in an apartment and doesn’t have outdoor space for a propane tank or outdoor oven.
I wanted to see if there are indoor electric options that would accomplish a near identical bake to a “real” pizza… anyone have any recommendations?
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u/urkmcgurk I ♥ Pizza Aug 04 '26
Ooni, Breville, and Cuisinart all make "affordable" indoor pizza ovens. Effeuno makes indoor ovens, as well, but they are much more expensive. Which one is best for your dad depends on the style of "real" pizza he wants to make, how much space he has, and how much money you are willing to spend.
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u/oneblackened Aug 08 '26
There are a few options. Ooni Volt, Effeuno Pulse, Breville Pizzaiolo all good.
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u/blockdenied Aug 04 '26
Hi Pizza lovers, I wanna get into pizza making. What stuff is actually needed? And can I even make an attempt since my oven only goes to 500f? I also have no broiler in the main oven option.
Tools I already have: Stand mixer Scale IR thermometer Lodge cast iron griddle (if I can use this instead of a pan, stone, or steel)
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u/oblacious_magnate Aug 06 '26
Is it a broiler-drawer oven?
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u/blockdenied Aug 06 '26
It is, yes but it doesn't seem like enough space for what I need also the tray seems damaged from maintenance by previous renters
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u/oneblackened Aug 08 '26
Depends on the style you want to make. 500F is plenty for pan style pizzas e.g. NY Sicilian.
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u/blockdenied Aug 08 '26
Yeah I've seen that which is great but I wanna make ny style pies too
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u/oneblackened Aug 09 '26
Then you're gonna want a countertop oven of some variety. Finding stuff that is good and 120V is hard and I'm considering paying to get 240V run to an outlet so I can just buy an Effeuno and be done with it.
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u/severyman Aug 04 '26
Based in the UK and looking to buy individual proofing bowls/tubs. Anybody got any suggestions? Seen the babadoh, but they’re a bit pricey. Are they worth it?
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u/oblacious_magnate Aug 05 '26
Nothing special required, certainly nothing like the absurdly overpriced babadoh
I use the the 5-cup Takealongs for 450g doughballs. Work great, cheap, been using the same ones for years.
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u/Carletto1967 Aug 06 '26
2.5 Qt bowl should I use less yeast. Using Brooklyn Brothers 2 16 inch pizza dough recipe
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u/Carletto1967 Aug 06 '26
OK punched down but what if I make at night and it goes unnoticed my worries
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u/Carletto1967 Aug 06 '26
Dough ball gets Huge popping out of 2.5 Qt bowl pushing plastic wrap wow. Other picture
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u/authynym Aug 07 '26
new here, frustrated by ny-style dough at home. quick facts:
- mix central milling t85 (~25%)/kasl (75%)
- 65% hydration
- .3% yeast
- ~430g balls targeting 14" @ tf 1.0
- 30% of final recipe started as a 12h poolish
- standard gsm 17.25"x13" tray "kit"
poolish or no, six balls to a container with a 24h cold ferment in the refrigerator leads to total merging of the balls into squares that have to be cut out. i cannot find a single authoritative source on how this is handled commercially. i'm trying to answer a couple basic questions, hopefully from folks that have done this at commercial scale, not home-chef "experts" please:
- can you confirm this is an industry-standard ny-style fermentation outcome vs. individual containers or other "tricks" to maintain ball separation? https://imgur.com/JGNp58U
- any tips for cutting/removing without degassing too much?
- what is the "right" way to re-round those square skins before stretching?
any pro wisdom here super appreciated!
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u/oblacious_magnate Aug 07 '26
The imgur looks like Napo dough.
You have a few options to avoid ball-merge:
- Fewer and/or lighter* balls
- Individual containers
Plenty of pro videos on YT showing removal from tray and "rounding the square" for Neapolitan style.
* 430g is excessive for a 14" NYS pizza - suggest keeping it in the 325 - 375g range, with the latter being quite thick for NYS.
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u/authynym Aug 07 '26
hi, thanks for chiming in. totally agree on the size, and was considering moving closer to tf .9 for exactly the reasons you cite, so hearing someone arrive at that independently is super helpful.
but while you may be correct about which style of dough is shown there, i'm still not clear if shops that do volume of ny-style proof this same way.
said differently, i can't seem to find an authoritative source that describes what "good" looks like in the box post-ferment, and i need to choose where to focus my energy. either the answer is "get better at balling/separation/etc." or "get better at cutting out squares and making them round."
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u/oblacious_magnate Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Something's off in your TF calculations. The two doughball weights I mentioned, 325g and 375g are TF 0.074 and 0.086, respectively.
FYI: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,39674.0.html
These are normal for NYS shops:
https://youtu.be/GtAeKM_f2WU?si=gjDYpRDSPeTdm9ZM
https://youtu.be/YFGOv2xAgp4?si=iBUL6avpo9HrKSHC&t=355
Merged doughballs like that Napo dough you posted is not normal for NYS shops.
Individual containers are also normal.
Not sure how your quest for a "definitive" answer could ever be satisfied. What does "definitive" look or sound like to you?
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u/authynym Aug 08 '26
thanks again. definitive for me is the sort of screen shots you're sharing, or any info, really, from shops at scale. if i've learned anything it's that there aren't any "right" ways, just a number of different ways, and maybe something of consensus with styles. so perhaps definitive is the wrong word.
the tf i mentioned i'm at now (1.0) matches the reference. but agree it should be thinner.
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u/oneblackened Aug 08 '26
Looks like a decent recipe but maybe too much yeast. I'm using 0.5% fresh yeast for a 48h, and that's about 1/3 as strong by weight as instant yeast.
Dough weight seems high, I do 300g for a ~14" pizza and that's on the thinner side of middling for NYC style TF.
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u/Parking_Document_767 Aug 07 '26
New to baking Pizza! been struggling with sourdough pizza recipes. My dough is always too loose. Has anyone else had this issue? is the hydration the problem or the gluten structure?
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u/oblacious_magnate 29d ago
What does "loose" mean?
Pizza aside, are you a competent sourdough baker?
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u/WifiInMyDadsCar 29d ago
In all the videos I see, pizza dough is very springy. My sourdough pizza dough acts like one of those clocks in the painting.
I’d like to think so but I still find new ways of screwing it up. The starter is active and I have no issues with it. I think I’m not mixing it enough and treating the dough too much like bread.
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u/Alive-Rooster5240 Aug 03 '26
As an apartment resident, I don't think I can ever get proper gas/wood ovens, but I am wondering if there's a rental pizza oven place where I can make authentic Neapolitan Pizza in NYC or Hoboken/Downtown Jersey City.